Little Roja Riding Hood

Elya remains a master at blending Spanish and English to create clever, lively verse, and she and Guevara give the story of Little Red Riding Hood an entertaining and thoroughly modern spin. Roja’s mother is busy watching telenovelas, so she sends her daughter to deliver sopa to her ailing Abuela. Riding on an ATV, Roja meets a wolf (“¡Cuidado! !Cuidado!” wail the forest birds in a kind of Greek chorus), who beats her to Abuela’s house. Guevara tucks fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters throughout her watercolor-and-gouche paintings, and Roja’s tech-driven solution to prevent future break-ins will leave readers smiling. Ages 5–8. Illustrator’s agent: Kendra Marcus, BookStop Literary Agency. (Apr.)